How to Make a Montage on Instagram

Got a camera roll full of unforgettable moments you're eager to share, but a simple photo dump in a carousel post just won't do them justice? The solution is to create a dynamic, engaging Instagram montage. This guide will show you exactly how to combine your best photos and video clips into a single, scroll-stopping Reel, using both Instagram's built-in tools and powerful third-party apps for even more creative control.

What Exactly Is an Instagram Montage (And Why It Works So Well)?

An Instagram montage is a collection of video clips and photos edited together into a short, cohesive video, almost always set to music or a trending audio clip. Think of it as a highlight reel for a specific event, feeling, or story. Unlike a static photo or a simple video, a montage uses quick cuts, rhythmic pacing, and a killer soundtrack to grab attention and evoke emotion in just a few seconds.

There's a reason reels featuring montages consistently perform well. Here's why they should be part of your content strategy:

• They're Engaging: The rapid-fire visuals and upbeat music are inherently captivating, making users stop their scroll and watch to see all the clips. This increased watch time signals to the Instagram algorithm that your content is valuable.
• They Tell a Story Quickly: You can show a whole day's adventure, a project's progress from start to finish, or a collection of your favorite memories in under 30 seconds. It's an incredibly efficient way to communicate a bigger narrative.
• They Tap into Trends: Many trending Instagram audio clips are specifically designed for montage-style Reels. Using these sounds helps your content get discovered by a wider audience who follows that trend.
• They're Versatile: A montage can be used for anything. Showcase a travel vlog teaser, a behind-the-scenes look at your business, a year-in-review, a fitness transformation, or a simple "day in my life" recap.

The Foundation: Planning Your Montage Before You Edit

A great montage doesn't happen by accident. Five minutes of planning will save you tons of time in the editing process and lead to a much stronger final product. Before you even open the Reels editor, walk through these foundational steps.

1. Define Your Story or "Vibe"

What's the point of this montage? What feeling do you want to leave your viewers with? Answering this question will guide every decision you make, from clip selection to music choice.

• For a travel montage: The story might be the journey from a bustling city to a peaceful beach. You'd want to start with clips of traffic and crowds, transition to shots from the plane or car, and end with serene ocean views.
• For a "making of" montage: Show the transformation. Start with raw materials or a blank canvas, include clips of the messy middle process, and finish with a glamorous reveal of the final product.
• For a "daily moments" montage: The vibe might be cozy and peaceful. You'd choose calm clips like a coffee being poured, a book being opened, and a candle being lit.

Having a clear goal means you won't just be dropping in random clips, you'll be creating a cohesive and compelling narrative.

2. Gather Your Raw Materials

Dive into your camera roll and pull out every photo and video clip that could possibly fit your story. At this stage, more is better. Create a separate album on your phone and add everything to it. This makes finding your clips much easier when you start editing.

As you gather, think about variety:

• Get a Mix of Shot Types: Include wide shots that establish a scene (like an entire landscape), medium shots showing an activity (like someone cooking), and close-up detail shots (like sizzling food in a pan).
• Mix Photo and Video: Combining still photos with moving clips adds a great dynamic rhythm to your montage. Photos often work best for quick, percussive beats in a song.
• Shoot Vertically: Whenever possible, film your clips in a vertical 9:16 aspect ratio. It will fill the entire screen on Instagram and create a more immersive experience.

3. Choose the Perfect Soundtrack

The music is the soul of your montage - it sets the pace, the mood, and the emotional tone. Don’t treat it as an afterthought. You can find your audio in two ways:

• Find a Trend on Instagram: The easiest way is to find a Reel you love and tap the audio at the bottom to see more videos using that sound. If you like it, tap "Use audio" to start your Reel right away, or tap "Save audio" to use it later. Saved audio clips are easy to find in the Reels music library.
• Search Manually: In the Reels editor, tap the music icon and search for a song, artist, or vibe (e.g., "upbeat jazz," "lofi study," "cinematic").

Pro-Tip: Before you even start editing, listen to your chosen audio a few times. Pay attention to the beat and any major changes in the music. Knowing where the "beat drops" happen will help you place your most impactful clips perfectly.

Method 1: How to Make a Montage Using the Instagram Reels Editor

Instagram's built-in Reels editor is surprisingly powerful, especially for creating quick, beat-synced montages. Their "Sync" tool does most of the heavy lifting for you. Here’s the step-by-step process.

1. Open the Reels Editor: On the Instagram home screen, tap the plus sign (+) at the bottom and select "Reel" from the menu.
2. Select Your Media: In the bottom left, tap the blue square with your camera roll preview to open your gallery. Select all the videos and photos you want to include in your montage. Tap "Next."
3. Add Your Music: On the next screen, tap the music note icon at the top. Go to your "Saved" audio or search for a new track. Once you select a song, tap "Done."
4. Let Instagram Do the Magic with "Sync": Now you’ll see an "Edit Video" button at the bottom left. Tap it. At the bottom of this new screen, you’ll see an option called Sync. Tap it. Instagram will automatically trim and time all of your clips to perfectly match the beat of the song. It’s an incredible time-saver and the key to a professional-looking montage.
5. Manually Adjust Your Clips (Optional): The Sync feature gets you 90% of the way there, but you can still make manual adjustments. You can tap and hold on any clip in the timeline to drag it to a different spot. Tap on an individual clip to trim its length or split it into two. You can also tap "+ Add clips" to bring in any photos or videos you missed.
6. Add Text, Stickers, and Effects: Once your timeline is perfect, tap "Next." Now you're on the final preview screen where you can add text overlays, polls, GIFs, or apply video effects. Pro-tip: Use text with animations to highlight key moments or to create a compelling title card in the first two seconds.
7. Write Your Caption and Share: Finally, write a descriptive caption, add relevant hashtags to help people discover your content, choose your cover photo, and hit "Share" to post your montage to your feed.

Method 2: Gaining More Control with Third-Party Editing Apps

While the Reels editor is great for speed, sometimes you need more creative control. Third-party video editing apps offer advanced features like cool transitions, sophisticated color grading, and more precise timeline controls. Two of the best and most user-friendly options are CapCut and InShot.

Using CapCut for Professional-Grade Montages

CapCut is a free, powerful video editor that's incredibly popular with social media creators. It offers a timeline that feels much more like a desktop editor, giving you total control.

Mini-Tutorial for a Custom CapCut Montage:

1. Open CapCut and start a "New Project." Select your photos and videos.
2. Editing the Timeline: Pinch to zoom in and out of the timeline for precise cuts. Drag clips to reorder them. Tap a clip to access tools like "Split," "Speed" (for slow-motion or speed ramps), and "Animation."
3. Adding Transitions: Between each clip, you’ll see a small white square with a line in it. Tap this icon to open the transitions menu. CapCut has hundreds of options, from simple fades to complex glitch and blur effects.
4. Adding Music & Sound Effects: Tap "Add audio" to import songs from their library, sound effects, or even extract audio from another video in your camera roll.

The Ultimate Shortcut: CapCut Templates

If you need a great-looking montage in under a minute, CapCut's template feature is unmatched. Thousands of creators upload their video edits as templates that you can use.

1. Open the CapCut app and tap the "Templates" tab at the bottom.
2. Search for a style like "travel montage" or "photo dump august."
3. Find a template you love and tap "Use template."
4. CapCut will prompt you to select the required number of photos and videos.
5. It automatically puts your media into the template, complete with all the transitions, effects, and music. Just export and you’re ready to post on Instagram!

Final Thoughts

Creating a captivating montage for Instagram is easier than ever. You can build a stunning, on-trend video in minutes using the Reels editor's Sync feature, or you can exercise your full creative vision with user-friendly apps like CapCut. The magic lies in planning your story, choosing the right audio, and arranging your clips to build emotion and energy.

Once you've perfected your montage, getting it and the rest of your content calendar organized shouldn't be a chore. We built Postbase because we were tired of wrestling with clunky, unreliable social media tools that treat video like an afterthought. Our visual calendar lets you plan and schedule your content across all platforms without the headache, ensuring your work goes live exactly when it should. We believe you should spend more time creating and less time fighting with your software.